Der Kirschdieb
An einem frühen Morgen, lange vor Hahnenschrei
Wurde ich geweckt durch ein Pfeifen und ging zum Fenster.
Auf meinem Kirschbaum ~ Dämmerung füllte den Garten ~
Sass ein junger Mann mit geflickter Hose
Und pflückte lustig meine Kirschen. Mich sehend
Nickte er mir zu, mit beiden Händen
Holte er die Kirschen von den Zweigen in seine Taschen.
Noch eine ganze Zeitlang, als ich wieder in meiner Bettstatt lag
Hörte ich ihn sein lustiges kleines Lied pfeifen.
Unfortunately Hahnenschrei has nothing to do with ahem! Candice... (Though a
Hahnrei is a cuckold. Cucania, cuckold...)
Pity about the unavoidable rhyme in the English, like a couplet; the German
2nd line avoids the tendency to a iambic lilt in the 1st & ends on an
inquisitive reflective note, not a rhyme. The inversion in 3 & 4 is normal,
not at all poetastic in German. I'm not knocking this competent translation,
but remarking how the reflective factual tone somehow becomes more
balladesque in the inversions & generally shorter lines. And of course
"nickte er mir zu" is more meaningful than "he nodded", especially after the
unusual hanging participle "sehend", which suggests deep insight in German,
but the thought of doubling "me" upset the translator.
The poem is surrounded by poems remarking on the risk of death for his
telling the truth & the Nazi threat, so the suggestion of idyllic respite is
intensified. In Cockaygne theft does not exist; to each according to his
needs. That's also about as much of Communist ideology as I can swallow
nowadays ~ I separate that from a Marxist critique of certain socio-economic
phenomena, which still has a lot going for it. But I would certainly not
call myself an unreconstructed Marxist; an unreconstructed sloth is more
like it.
Now's the time to say goodnight
Martin
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